This article was presented at "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment, Part 3", the International Institue for Restoratitive Practice's Sixth International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, March 3-5, 2005, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. It was originally presented at the American Humane Association's Family Group Decision Making Conference and Skills-Building Institute, 6-9 June, 2004, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The article discusses the history of child welfare services and family group conferences (FGCs) in relation to Maori. The author notes that the influential "Daybreak - Puao te Ata Tu" (1988) report exposed major concerns and highlighted the need for major changes in child welfare services in order to incorporate Maori custom, values, beliefs, and understanding of family and decision-making methods relating to children and whanau. The article discusses the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act (1989) as the legislation implementing the FGC and notes that the act recognises that child welfare is a private rather than state concern, and promotes Maori and all other family groups as carers for the wellbeing of their young. It outlines the changing social and economic environment of the 1990s when FGCs were put into operation, noting the disappearance of many support services for Maori. The author offers suggestions for how, with hindsight, the 1989 act might have been more effectively implemented and, in turn, how to make family lead decision-making more effective in the future. These include: allowing funding allocations for FGCs; preserving and building the funds available to support the plans that emerge from FGCs; focussing on building core departmental capacity; recognising that kinship care needs its own support framework; better managing the approach to the establishment of coordinator roles alongside social workers; and ensuring there are sufficient coordinators to manage public functions. The author also addresses the strengths and future challenges that FGCs have in working with Maori.